NEWSLETTER
Much of my Opening Day was spent in a car rental office, in traffic, in the hot Florida sun walking miles on a bum foot, and – occasionally – watching the Cubs at Marlins Park. Because it was such a mess, I only observed in passing what exactly was happening with Michael today. I mean, my watch kept dinging at me, but my phone battery was perilously low, and I was trying to make up for my extreme absence by catching up on the game.
So when I heard about a Cubs writer who had said he was going to jump into Lake Michigan if Ian Happ did what he’s been doing all spring, I thought about what fun that was. I love stuff like that. Sitting down at a roadside McDonald’s to write the EBS after the game, I finally got a chance to really drink in the scope of what had happened today.
If Ian Happ leads off today's game with a home run, I will jump in Lake Michigan later today.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) March 29, 2018
Promises are promises. #ThanksIan #LetsGoCubs #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/IqB66kzoJE
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) March 29, 2018
Baller. Well done, Michael.
Michael’s travails in the brutally cold water was chronicled all over the sports-related web, and it might be shorter to point you to where it wasn’t talked about. But hey, here’s a sampling of links: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Sports Illustrated put it well:
Talk the talk ✔︎
Walk the walk ✔︎
(via @Michael_Cerami) pic.twitter.com/GJRCAZUTwb
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 29, 2018
But I’d imagine the recognition that works best for Michael, given his frigid sacrifice (the lake is currently 41 degrees at the shore!), is the guy who made him jump in the first place:
Great form on the dive👌🏻 https://t.co/b7TNVxhklE
— Ian Happ (@ihapp_1) March 29, 2018
Well done today, Michael. A deal’s a deal, and you did the right thing. And now, of course, you have to make the same deal throughout the rest of the season to ensure Happ has a great year. Right? I mean, you realize this, right?
